Relationshipping

Romantic and/or sexual relationships between characters (also called just pairings) are an extremely popular subject in Touhou doujinshi and fanart. Of course, since almost all of the characters are female, "everybody in Gensokyo is gay" is itself a meme.

This is intended to be a list of the couples most commonly seen in fanon and excludes "crack pairings". Brief explanations of likely canon origins, or at least excuses, are also welcome.

Contents

Main Character Harems

As the protagonists, Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame are frequent subjects of shipping speculation, both with each other and with enemies they've defeated. Marisa, however, is often considered to have a larger "harem". Pairings are roughly organized by order of popularity in each category.

Reimu and Marisa appear as playable main characters, usually both in the same game, in almost every Touhou game, making this the most popular pairing in Touhou ever since the beginning. They are also shown to be acquainted in several places in the games, sharing a sort of on-again-off-again camaraderie. In the comics and artbooks they are shown to spend nearly every minute with each other like really close friends, from casually hanging out at the shrine and Kourindou, to even solving incidents together. This is a rather popular pairing with fan authors, mostly displaying the contrast between Marisa's sassy, easygoing and spontaneous attitude, and Reimu's more unabashed, laid-back and level-headed demeanor. Artists like Rocket Fuel 21 and Asian Big Brother Generation like to portray an affectionate and aggressive Reimu and a bashful Marisa (or Marisa crushing painfully on her in the second case), but those need to be taken into account as very personal interpretations those authors chose.

The phrase 「僕の見つけた真実はレイマリ」 ("Boku no mitsuketa shinjitsu wa ReiMari" / "My discovered truth is ReiMari") is commonly used to express support for ReiMari.

Reimu Pairings

Reimu and Yukari — the border's shrine maiden and the youkai of the border — made up the Border Team of Imperishable Night. Their relationship in fan works is usually identified by Yukari playfully teasing or flirting with Reimu (as Yukari does poke fun at her a lot in the game), who often acts irritated or impatient with the advances but may become receptive to them eventually.

In Perfect Cherry Blossom, from their conversation, it is possible to infer that Yukari has actually known Reimu previously. In the conversation after clearing it, Yukari can be seen leading Reimu around.

In Immaterial and Missing Power, in Reimu's scenario, Reimu said, "appears even without invitation. Doesn't appear when invited..." Afterwards, Yukari threw out the words, "Oh, have you ever invited me?" enjoying the reaction, "nope!"

In the same scenario, in Reimu's conversation with Suika, Reimu said, "...that's what Yukari said." Thus, when Yukari is present, she has the aforementioned kind of attitude, but when Yukari is not there, she makes a complete change and makes this kind of comment. Thus, from the time of Immaterial and Missing Power, she has obediently believed what Yukari said.

In Yukari's scenario, she said, "my, you're the first to point that out, Reimu." Whereas everyone else ignored it hearing only half of the story, Reimu here honestly pointed it out. Even when Yukari talks vaguely, Reimu still listened for a moment. This is in sharp contrast to when in Yuyuko's scenario, Yuyuko said "good morning," which Reimu ignored and said, "good evening."

Additionally, in Patchouli's scenario, she said, "she's always around when I don't want her to be," implying that there are times when she does want her around, especially when Yukari replied, "my, I didn't think there'd ever be a time when you'd want me around." Afterwards, Patchouli even said, "oh, you lived at the shrine" to which Yukari replied, "lived." This is related to Yukari's lie in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, when she said, "my shrine."

In the versus mode, when Reimu wins against Yukari, she said, "you always show up at the worst times... since you're not around at the worst times," which leaves various impressions.

The phrase 「ゆかれいむは俺のロード」 ("YukaReimu wa ore no roodo" / "YukaReimu is my lord") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

Alice appeared to have remembered Reimu from their earlier encounters in PCB and MS (Mystic Square). This pairing was originally somewhat popular before IN's Magic team introduced the Marisa/Alice pairing. However, this pairing's popularity never did die out that much, and remains one of the more popular pairings.

The phrase 「レイアリは原点」 ("ReiAri wa genten" / "ReiAri is the origin") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

Could be said that it simply comes from the fact that the two are both shrine maidens, but the Mountain of Faith dialogues might bear some leads for it. It was the only popular pairing for Sanae before Kogasa x Sanae came about.

The phrase 「レイサナの道を歩む」 ("ReiSana no michi wo ayumu" / "I walk the path of ReiSana") is commonly used to express support for ReiSana.

A pairing that has gained quite a bit of popularity due to their partnership in Subterranean Animism. Other notable encounters are in Phantasmagoria of Flower View in Aya's scenario, where Aya remarks that "A shrine maiden is a great source for information." From regular battles, she also says "Of course, when I'm stuck for stories I'm limited to those of shrine maidens." In Mountain of Faith, Aya also says "It's because I'm the one that knows the most about you." Also, in Reimu's 4th stage in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, after defeating Aya and the weather changes back to Reimu's weather (which is sunny), Aya remarks that "This is the first I've seen of the sun in a long time. It sure feels nice." Knowing that Aya is always snapping pictures about everything, the people often think that Aya snaps pictures of Reimu while she is alone.

Marisa Pairings

Alice and Marisa make up the Magic Team of Imperishable Night, and as the two are both witches living in the same forest and have occasional quarrels, they are often shown to be friends. Fan works in which they have a relationship vary greatly, with one of the most popular interpretations of MariAli being Alice acting like a typical tsundere toward Marisa, usually because Alice is a youkai and Marisa is not (bolstered by Marisa Stole The Precious Thing). Other times, Alice and/or Marisa will be a less exaggerated tsundere, with strong feelings about the other, but unable to express them. In scenarios where they have a fully-blossomed, recognized relationship, it tends to be love/hate, since Marisa is outwardly, and Alice is more of a calm, collected type.

The phrase, 「マリアリが俺のジャスティス」 ("MariAri ga ore no justice!" / "MariAri is my justice!") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

The first time they talked was stage 5 of Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, where Marisa expressed some desire to become a maid (and why would Marisa say she wants to be the head maid?). Additionally, in Immaterial and Missing Power, in stage 3 of Sakuya's route, Sakuya somehow managed to walk to Marisa's shop without getting lost, and Sakuya remarked how she was special for managing to do so. In Phantasmagoria of Flower View, in stage 5A of Marisa's route, they note that there are no flowers growing in either persons' place of residence. A common depiction is that Marisa still sneaks around the library, and looks for medicinal herbs in the Forest of Magic (with Sakuya helping along).

The phrase 「咲マリは俺の聖域」 ("SakuMari wa ore no seiiki" / "SakuMari is my sanctuary") is commonly used to declare support this pairing.

Marisa debuted in Story of Eastern Wonderland, the second Touhou game, as its fifth-stage boss. Mima was the game's sixth-stage boss, leading fans to think that Mima was the master and/or mother figure to Marisa in the PC-98 era.

Upon defeating Flandre in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Marisa suggests for Flandre to get married, with Reimu for example. At times, fans will couple the young vampire with Marisa instead (actual Flandre x Reimu pairing is very uncommon, almost never seen), though the latter is still the one who gave her the hint.

The phrase 「フラマリが私の人生」 ("FuraMari ga watashi no jinsei" / "FuraMari is my vitality") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

This is actually more popular than Yuuka x Reimu. Probably due to the notion that Marisa's trademark Master Spark was originally used by Yuuka, who would be much less than pleased about the issue.

Masters and Servants

The suffering and frustration experienced by serious-minded servants at the hands of their exasperating, capricious masters is a frequent source of humor in both official works (especially Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth) and fan works. The following are arranged roughly by order of popularity.

Nazrin is Shou's underling and also the midboss in her stage. Similar to Ran and Chen's pairing, Shou is depicted as motherly or rather just romantic toward Nazrin. Though unlike Ran and Chen, Nazrin has shown tsundere tendencies towards her employer.

This pairing can be depicted in several ways, but most often seen with Meiling caring for Flandre in a motherly fashion, though fanon tends to take this further. Additionally, the two are seen as colorful characters, due to the nature of Meiling's rainbow-ish spell cards and Flandre's rainbow wings.

The phrase 「メイフラは希望の虹」 ("MeiFura wa kibou no niji" / "MeiFura is the rainbow of hope") is commonly used to declare support for MeiFura.

Youmu projects the image of a loyal samurai, but she's also a young girl who frequently gets flustered at Yuyuko's carefree personality. As seen in Silent Sinner in Blue, Yuyuko also has the best awareness of the plot and provides Youmu with expository explanations.

The phrase 「ゆゆみょんは俺のファンタジー」 ("YuyuMyon wa ore no fantasy" / "YuyuMyon is my fantasy") is commonly used to declare support for YuyuMyon.

The fanon interpretation of Momiji's personality is very similar to Youmu's: serious about her duty as a guard and skilled with the sword, but innocent and naive in most other respects. This makes her a frequent target for Aya's teasing and abuse.

The phrase 「文椛は自然の摂理」 ("AyaMomi wa shizen no setsuri" / "AyaMomi is nature's providence") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

This was easy to predict, since Shou was the original helper of the sealed magician Byakuren. She's depicted with Shou in a parent-like role (as she's shown toward every other boss in UFO) or sometimes a romantic one, since their stages are right next to each other (Ultimate and Penultimate boss pairing).

Kanako is dominant over Suwako, having taken control of Suwako's shrine by force, and Sanae is often depicted as being a level-headed shrine maiden who tries to keep both of her goddesses' antics under control.

Byakuren is considered the "granny" of the UFO team, and Nue and Minamitsu being the children of the team, so they often fight over who likes Byakuren better. Frequently, things get messy between Nue and Minamitsu, sometimes turning into something more... seductive and flirtatious.

It's a PC-98 relationship between two humans, Yumemi being the older one. She often shows Chiyuri (her assistant) a rather abusive side, which fanon has taken further, to the point of Yumemi being tsundere for Chiyuri. In other words, a usual Master-Servant relationship, but in a more human way.

Both are or were married. However, their husbands are never seen, bear little mention, and have no major role in the story, only serving to establish the Watatsuki's relation to Eirin. Meanwhile, the sisters are often seen together and share a close bond, sometimes taken to mean more by some.

Keine appears in Imperishable Night's Extra stage to protect Mokou, when she said 「あの人間には指一本触れさせない!!」 or "you won't lay a single finger on that human!" Of course, 「あの人間」 or "that human" could refer to nobody other than Mokou.

The phrase 「もこけねは神の国」 ("MokoKene wa kami no kuni" / "MokoKene is the land of gods") is commonly used to declare support for MokoKene.

Yuugi has many things for Parsee to become jealous over: strength, height, fighting skill, breast size.... As with Hina and Nitori, there is nothing actually to connect the two, yet the pairing turned popular enough to get lots of fan art and few doujins. Usually features Parsee as a typical tsundere and Yuugi as the more aggressive one.

The phrase 「勇パルは俺のジェラシー」 ("YuuParu wa ore no jealousy" / "YuuParu is my jealousy") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

Yuuka is incredibly powerful, so it wouldn't make sense for her to pay attention to lower-level youkai. But Wriggle is a bug. Bugs pollinate flowers, and Yuuka is a flower youkai. ANGELTYPE's depiction of this pairing (in Nightbug and Flowerland) features Yuuka acting as a protective big sister for Wriggle, and sometimes showing her affection by tormenting her.

The phrase 「ゆうリグは俺の向日葵」 ("YuuRigu wa ore no himawari" / "YuuRigu is my sunflower") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

Flandre and Koishi are both EX-bosses and both younger sisters of their loving older sisters (Remilia and Satori). A few fans suggest that Koishi is the one visiting Flandre to play with, or having a relationship since their older sisters are "busy" with their servants.

The phrase 「こいフラが俺のイドブレイク」 ("KoiFura wa ore no id break" / "KoiFura is my id break") is commonly used to express support for this pairing.

Besides both being two of the oldest residents of Gensokyo, in Perfect Cherry Blossom, Yukari is the one who informs the player that Yuyuko is the one buried under the Saigyou Ayakashi. This led to the popular fan theory that Yukari knew Yuyuko since before her death, and many doujins explore the relationship they had together, with quite a few suggesting that Yuyuko committed suicide, causing Yukari to fall into a deep depression.

The phrase 「ゆかゆゆが俺の幻想郷」 ("YukaYuyu ga ore no Gensoukyou" / "YukaYuyu is my Gensokyo") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

They are both fifth-stage bosses, and in Imperishable Night, Youmu concludes that Eirin is similar to Yuyuko in regards to treatment of their servants. There is also a contrasting nature of their weapons, where Youmu uses a sword, whereas Reisen uses something very bullet-like.

The phrase 「うどみょんは俺の銃刀法違反」 ("UdoMyon wa ore no juutouhou ihan"/"UdoMyon is my Juutouhou violation") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing. (「銃刀法」, "juutouhou", is an abbreviation for the Swords and Firearms Control Law 「じゅうとうほう」 Japan passed in 1958.)

Often features the two acting as "parents" for Sanae. In H-artwork, their relationship is mostly mutual and consensual, but in H-doujins, Suwako is almost always portrayed as being completely dominant over Kanako, since she is the more powerful goddess (or maybe because they're written by lolicons).

They are co-workers for the same ship, and additionally, in Undefined Fantastic Object, Minamitsu was the captain and Ichirin was the guard of the ship, and they have also known each other for more than a thousand years. Reimu A's ending mentioned that both were sealed in the depths of the earth. Additionally, they both appeared in level 5 in Double Spoiler.

Patchouli is a close enough friend to Remilia that Remilia has allowed her to live in her house, probably for centuries. In fact, as seen in Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, they call each other by their abbreviated names. This suggests some level of intimacy.

Rinnosuke is half-human, half-youkai, the major theme here. It's commonly thought that he would have more in common with Youmu or Keine because of this. Sakuya and Youmu are also semi-frequent visitors to Kourindou. Rinnosuke, Keine, and Akyuu are all connected with the Human Village. When paired with Keine, the common setting is both being childhood or long time friend. The Hieda, in particular, seem to be well acquainted with him. In Sanae's case, Rinnosuke is heavily interested in items and matters of the outside world, and because Sanae is from the outside, she would be the most interested or know the most about the things he carries.

A pairing popularized by Mitsumoto, despite no canon connecting the two. Usually has Mystia admiring Mokou, who may or may not answer her feelings. Supporters of this relationship will change Mokou's occupation to something other than a yakitori vendor, such as selling charcoal) for Mystia's lamprey stand.

The phrase 「もこみすは盲目の八目鰻」 ("Mokomisu wa moumoku no yatsumeunagi" / "Mokomisu is the lamprey of blindness") is commonly used to express support for this pairing.

The origin of tengus is the god Sarutahiko and the origin of mikos is the goddess Ama-no-Uzume - according to mythology, these two were a married couple. As a result of this lineage, we have this pairing between the tengu Aya and the miko Sanae. Both have wind-based powers, and are bosses of stages 4 and 5 respectively in Mountain of Faith. This pairing was popularized by pasteltel).

The phrase 「あやさなは風神の瞬き」 ("AyaSana wa fuujin no matataki"/"AyaSana is the wink of a wind god") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

Mokou's name (妹紅) could mean "Scarlet (younger) Sister" or "Paint me red". Flandre is the younger sister of Remilia Scarlet, and both are EX-bosses. This pairing was quite popular before pairings with Koishi and Nue arrived.

Kogasa is the mid-boss of Nue's stage in Undefined Fantastic Object, even though she has no relation to her or the plot. Because of the trend of pairing closely grouped bosses together, fanarts like this) became the result shortly after the game's release. Additionally, they are both youkai that enjoy scaring, or at least surprising, people.

The most popular pairing featuring Medicine, either because of Medicine's alignment with lilies-of-the-valley, or the fact the she is the only one to actually harm Yuuka when she is defeated in PoFV (they also have an ending in PoFV which involves the two together).

The similarity of Nitori's hairstyle to that of PC-98 character Chiyuri has led to jokes about them forming a "Twin-Tail Alliance". Their shared interest in science has only furthered their pairing status.

Due to the fact that their powers are polar opposites (fire/ice) and the fact that they are both portrayed as stupid. It also serves as the basis for the "cold fusion" pun, and ⑥⑨ (⑥ representing Utsuho and ⑨ Cirno).

Both are generally accepted to be both powerful and childlike. Koishi is often portrayed as being either completely emotionless or as being extremely active, and Kokoro cannot express emotions on her own.

First- and third-stage bosses of Double Dealing Character. Not much is similar about them, except them being more Occidental creatures (a mermaid and a werewolf, respectively), and their fear of humans.

Domination or Rape

Usually involves Meiling having an unrequited crush on Sakuya and Sakuya frequently stabbing Meiling in the head for not doing her job as door guard. However, the violent factor of this relationship has become less prevalent lately, especially with some fanart depicting a younger Sakuya looking up to Meiling like an older sister.

Canonically, both of them continually fight each other with deadly force, even though they're immortal and regenerate all damage. In Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth, Mokou seems to behave like a tsundere as well, and Kaguya genuinely likes Mokou. A possible result of this is that more works that explore this relationship nonviolently have been appearing, many portraying Mokou as a tsundere confused by her feelings, but more recently the idea that Mokou might redeem her family honor by wooing the princess who violated it has been gaining ground. Another popular interpretation is that they find solace in each other as a way to cope with their mutual immortality. This solace is expressed in various forms — violence, friendship, romance, etc. — but despite the form by which they interact, they still desire to be around each other.

The phrase, 「てるもこは永遠の輝き」 ("TeruMoko wa eien no kagayaki" / "TeruMoko is the radiance of eternity" is one commonly used to declare support for TeruMoko.

A pairing that has become somewhat popular due to the fact that Sanae said harsh things to Kogasa in the dialogue of UFO. While nowhere near as popular as Reimu x Sanae, it is still extremely well-known, especially thanks to works like Hitoshi Mizuki's Hang in There, Kogasa-san.

The phrase「なは俺の相合傘」("KogaSana wa ore no ai-ai gasa"/"KogaSana is my shared umbrella") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

The two religious/political leaders of Gensokyo are often portrayed as being in conflict, so much so that Danbooru has a pool exclusively for such images. Most Japanese fans who depict the two fighting will have Byakuren dominate over Miko, due to the fact that Taoism has fallen out of favor in Japan. However, before Hopeless Masquerade and since, there have also been a number of pics portraying them in a more positive light, such as having a more friendly rivalry, being the surrogate parents of Hata no Kokoro, being platonic lovers, or even being in a sexual relationship where Miko is the more forthcoming/dominant one.

The phrase「ひじみこは心の架け橋」("HijiMiko wa kokoro no kakehashi"/"HijiMiko is building a bridge to the heart") is commonly used to declare support for this pairing.

Popularized by Sougetsu-Tei, after which "Fangirl Youmu" became a meme unto itself, with pictures of Youmu being photoshopped with a lovestruck expression wherever possible. Another thing to mention are their uncanny similarities and traits to each other.

Eirin is frequently shown, even in the canonical Inaba of the Moon and Inaba of the Earth, to subject Reisen to medical experiments and corporal punishment. As a side note regarding Kaguya, Reisen's occupation as seen in the profile is "Kaguya's pet".